Regenix seals deal with leading US tissue bank

The York-based company has signed a deal with Community Tissue Services, one of the largest tissue banks in the US, to manufacture DermaPure, Tissue Regenix’ human decellularised dermis product for chronic wounds.

Community Tissue Services distributes more than 230,000 grafts for transplant a year.

Tissue Regenix believes that its products can help to ease the pain of thousands of Americans with chronic wounds.

Chronic wounds affect around 6.5 million patients in the US.

The group said it has made significant strides in building the Group’s US subsidiary, Tissue Regenix Wound Care Inc, and it has nearly finished appointing distributors across the US who will be able to cover the majority of the country.

It said it is on course to deliver the US commercial launch of DermaPure in the first half of next year.

Announcing results for the six months to July 31, the group reported a pre-tax loss of £2.3m, up from £1.9m the previous year as a result of extra development expenditure and an increased head count.

The firm said DermaPure has produced positive final clinical data in collaboration with NHS Blood and Transplant.

In the first trial more than half of the patients suffering from chronic leg ulcers said their wounds had completely healed.

Tissue Regenix’s managing director Antony Odell said: “We have made good progress on the execution of our strategy to commercialise our range of products, and our investments during the first half of the year reflects this plan.

“We have achieved a number of critical milestones in the past six months and we are focusing on taking the most effective route to open up new international markets.”

The group said it has made a number of senior appointments to build its market presence as it prepares for commercial roll-out.

This includes the appointment of Peter Hamer as business development manager of the orthopaedics division, giving the group dedicated business development managers in wound care, cardiac and orthopaedics.

Analyst Savvas Neophytou, at Panmure, said: “The company’s interim results were in line with expectations.

“Loss before tax was £2.3m and there was a loss per share of -0.34p.

“We make no changes to forecasts at this stage.

“Following a raft of positive newsflow in early summer, the past few weeks have been quieter but overall we remain positive on the stock and re-iterate our ‘Buy’ recommendation and 18p price target.”